Before Alabama hired Mike Shula, it interviewed Sylvester Croom, shown at SEC Media Days, above, during his tenure as Mississippi State coach. Two Alabama lawmakers believe it's time for a law to force colleges to consider more minority coaches.

John Rogers was way ahead of me.

I called the state representative Friday to see if he'd heard about Oregon's legal version of the NFL's Rooney Rule and ask his opinion of it.

Heard of it? Rogers already has asked someone to get a copy of that legislation because he plans to introduce a similar bill during the next regular session of the Alabama Legislature.

So his opinion of Oregon's SB 3118, which has passed that state's House and is under consideration in its Senate and has reopened the national debate about fair hiring practices in college sports, is quite favorable.

''I'll tell you why I'm doing it," Rogers said. ''There seems to be a disenfranchisement when it comes to hiring black coaches. I think it's wrong."

He's right on both counts.

There are too many minority players for there to be so few minority head coaches, especially in major college football.

The NCAA has 120 Football Bowl Subdivision institutions.

Nine of them have minority head coaches.

That's not right.

The original version of the Oregon bill would've required public colleges and universities in search of a head football coach to interview at least one qualified minority candidate.

The bill was quickly and wisely amended to include coaching searches in all sports as well as searches for athletics directors.

The only asterisk in the Oregon bill gives schools a pass on interviewing a minority when ''the school is bound by contract to promote a member of the current coaching staff."

So Florida State, which has a deal with Jimbo Fisher to succeed Bobby Bowden, or Texas, which has a contractually designated successor to Mack Brown in Will Muschamp, would not be in violation of such a law.

''I think (the legislation) is fair," Rogers said. ''It'll give us a level playing field. I'm not saying they have to hire the (minority) candidate. Just give them a shot. Right now, we're not even in the ballgame."

In each case, the minority candidate wasn't hired. The ensuing firestorm against both schools may have been hotter than if neither had interviewed a minority at all.

''Sylvester Croom was the best man for the Alabama job, and they didn't hire Sylvester," Rogers said.

Croom did get a chance to become the Mississippi State head coach. He was forced to resign after one winning season in five years.

''With some real players," Rogers said, ''he'd be a heckuva coach."

Perhaps. It is easier to win in Tuscaloosa than Starkville.

Bottom line: There's no perfect way to level the playing field, legally or otherwise. But what the Rooney Rule did for the NFL was start some dialogue between minority coaches and majority team officials that otherwise might never have taken place.

Rogers isn't the only member of the Alabama Legislature who sees the wisdom of turning the Rooney Rule into law. Rodger Smitherman, president pro tem of the Alabama Senate, said he'd be willing to introduce similar legislation during the next session.

''It would give uniformity of opportunity to all our citizens," Smitherman said. But what about schools that don't comply? The Oregon bill doesn't include penalties.

''I don't think you need to attach penalties to it," Rogers said. ''You'd like to think people will play fair. If they still don't do it, you can come back and add penalties."

Rogers likes the idea of this bill so much, the chair of the Alabama Legislative Black Caucus is not going to stop at home. He said he plans to suggest, at the next meeting of the National Black Caucus, that legislators introduce similar bills in every state.

Good.

Think nationally. Act locally. You never know where you might find the next Tony Dungy.